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Thursday, January 5, 2012

To Buy: Product Review, Play Hut Megaland Tunnel Toy

Today I want to talk about the awesome new toy that Santa brought to our house this Christmas. It is called Playhut MegaLand, and it is fantastic! I ordered mine through Amazon, on one of their Black Friday Lightning Deals.

First Impression from the Website: When I saw this lightning deal open up, I was curious but unsure. We already have a pop up tent that I HATE because it has all these silly metal pieces that you have to snap together in order to form the frame for the tent. I was very worried that this would be like that. The deal though, was fantastic. I got mine for just $19.99, thought it normally retails (and is currently back at this price) for $59.99. I mainly bought it because it was such a great deal and it had decent reviews. Plus, it claimed to be easy to take down and put up.

First impression from the Box: This box is HUGE! I almost freaked out a little thinking I bit off way more than I could chew. I resolved that I wouldn't take it back and that we would chance it and see how things went.

Upon opening: When you open the box, you'll find the reason for the size is more because of the balls that are included than with the toy itself. There are five main pieces that make up the tunnel toy and when you start to open them up, they practically pop open themselves. All that is required for you to put it together is to pull the sides and they pop into their shape. There are three large sections and two tunnels that you can connect the sections with, and the tunnels can be connected to almost all of the openings on the different "main" sections. This allows you to make almost any configuration of pieces that you could want and the pieces connect with velcro so that they stay attached. Each of the main pieces is a little different. The largest one has an open top, several openings and one mesh "window" that the kids can look out, and a basketball hoop for play. The second section is pretty much just a cube with some openings, and the last section is triangular and has a wall with four holes that you can use to toss balls in, as well as two other openings.

Upon playing: Both of my children LOVE this toy. My 4.5 year old uses it as a hide out, plays with her animals and loves crawling around and pretending that it is a castle. My 15 month old likes playing with the balls and poking her head out the various holes. We recently had a play date and the two big girls loved throwing all of their toys in the ball pit (I was too tired to bring out all of the balls) They found their own creative use for the holes in the side:

Overall, this toy earns 5 out of 5 hearts from me, and I highly recommend it to anyone!